Educating shoppers with Google Glass and associates with iPads

Smart cosmetics brands are investing in creative tech solution to meet the needs and expectations of digitally savvy consumers.

Digitally connected consumers have a wealth of information and real-time resources at their fingertips as they shop for personal care products, and they fully expect that their in-store experiences will be even more engaging, nuanced and informative than all that.

Brand ambassadors​On-counter makeup artists and product consultants as well as in-shop associates meet consumers face-to-face every day. Stylish digital tools, when done right, can motivate and inform associates, lead to better sales and further loyal customer relationships.

QuizScore, the training app from Multimedia Plus, is one such technology. Top international retailers like Coach (with 10,000 employees) and Groupo Cortefiel (with 9,000 employees) use the platform as well as select beauty brands, which have opted to keep their tech partnerships with MMP a secret.

QuizScore functionality is particularly well suited to cosmetics and personal care brands because it’s completely customizable to the features and benefits of the numerous SKUs. And working from the backend, the brand has instant version control of the content, assets and training options; when formulations, availability and marketing strategy changes, the QuizScore content can too. It’s an app-based platform, which means that associates with a low-bandwidth connection can use it live.

“This is where retail is headed,” ​Emily Heintz, vice president of business development told Cosmetics Design. Digital technology should, “facilitate associates’ ownership of company and product knowledge,” ​she said.

Database and interface​QuizScore learns as it teaches. That is, the tool gathers information about employee training, progress, and completion. Plus it can track the number of times a particular video is viewed and how that correlates to sales of the featured product (and even how those sales are distributed among associates).

While QuizScore is at its core an employee training app, it allows for several dynamic customer-facing uses too, like what Heintz calls “mini commercials to show the customer.” ​

45 minutes of fame​Online video makeup tutorials have gone well beyond trend status to become reliable buying guides and a source for trusted professional advice.

Luxury beauty brand YSL has just taken that concept to the limits of digital, personalized commerce with Google Glass make-up tutorials done at the counter. Monday the brand began offering 45-minute makeovers by make-up artist Fred Letailleur at Selfridges in London, reported Katy Young in this week’s Telegraph​.

The sessions are filmed on Google Glass worn by the artist and emailed to the consumer shortly after the live make-up lesson. “You'll also be sent before and after shots, plus a list of the YSL products that got you there with direct shopping links - although at a reasonable price of £30, which is redeemable against purchase, you don't at any stage feel the pressure to buy the kit in its entirety,” ​Young writes.

This isn’t a one-time gimmick; YSL is rolling out the service over the course of a year and training its counter make-up artists to create the tutorials. Beautiful digital commerce is here to stay.